


A Second Chance

by Ladyofwarandmercy



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Grant is Hellfire, Secret Warriors - Freeform, Thomas is Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-03-31 11:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3977179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyofwarandmercy/pseuds/Ladyofwarandmercy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a major hotel fire, Grant Ward is discovered to be alive, and there is a "shoot-to-kill" order out on him, despite having saved Fitz's life. Terrigenesis was believed to have happened, and Coulson has decided Grant Ward with a Gift is too big a threat. Skye and her Secret Warriors/Caterpillars think otherwise, and set out to save one of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alphonso MacKenzie sat in the chair in the lab, as Lincoln and Fitz pored over the data from Lincoln’s device. MacK had what he considered to be the most ridiculous-looking headband ever on his bald head, with flashing lights that attached to a tablet in Lincoln’s hand. Fitz pointed to something on the screen, and Lincoln shook his head dismissively. “MacK, you dyslexic?” Lincoln casually asked. MacKenzie gave Lincoln a shocked look, and slowly nodded. Lincoln pointed to the same place on the tablet Fitz was interested in. “That’s all that means, Fitz. He’s clean, and operating within normal Human parameters!” With that, Lincoln tapped the button on the bottom of the tablet, and started to remove the headband from MacK’s head. “The Kree nanites that got you in that city under Puerto Rico apparently metabolized away, MacK. They’re kind of like TIE fighters in Star Wars. They need to be near the base station, or they run out of fuel. You are in no danger from any more Kree artifacts, at least as far as I can tell.” Fitz helped Lincoln put his equipment away, but was still too mad to strike up a conversation. Lincoln could watch Skye pass by on her way to Coulson’s office. He left Fitz to finish putting the equipment away (heck, maybe try and talk to his old friend again), and went off to find Jerry, Druid, YoYo, and Tom.

 

As Skye left Coulson’s office and walked back towards the side of the Playground she and the rest of the Caterpillars stayed in, Jerry Sledge’s strong arms grabbed her and yanked her into a closet. Jerry plonked her on a large closed bucket of floor wax as a seat, as the rest of the team surrounded her, arms crossed and hostile. Oddly, the frown on Skye’s face faded as she saw her whole team in the closet with her. “Okay guys, I hope this means we are on the same page.” The others tentatively relaxed, as Skye turned towards Lincoln. “I know this is a mere formality, but I take it the debris in Grant’s hotel room was…exactly what we thought it was, right?” Both Lincoln and Tom nodded at that one. Skye smiled a bit, “Yep, cocoon debris. I knew it. Okay, I could not get them to take back the shoot-to-kill order, but that just means we have to get to him first. Whatever he was, he is one of us now. And I too think that fire he started was just his Gift running away from him.” Tom visibly relaxed, and rolled his head, as his multiple earrings twinkled in the closet lights. Skye gave Tom a quiet smile. “Yeah,” YoYo started, “We’ll take him to Pyotr…” Skye’s hand shot out to cover Yolanda’s lips. “Shhh! Don’t tell me anything you don’t want Coulson getting out of me. Suffice it to say, I know a couple of you are in with some kind of Underground Railroad. We need to capture Grant Ward and put him on that railroad before the Muggles find him.” The entire room nodded at this one, not entirely in sync. They started to leave the closet in twos, Tom deliberately holding back to leave with Skye. Despite the Gothic makeup, Tom’s eyes were warm. “Thank you for believing me, Skye. Burning down a hotel full of people…..I know that Garrett guy did a lot to mess with him, but that fire is just….not Grant’s style. But what do I know? I’m just his brother.” Skye put a hand on Tom Ward’s arm. “Believe it or not, I’m not doing this for me, or you, or him. But I am doing this. We’ll get your brother safe, and then we will deal with him as…..family.”

 

A week later, they had the fugitive pinned down in the Salt Basin Dunes near the Guadalupe Mountains. Grant was dehydrated, sick, tired, but still able to put up quite a fight….until John Garrett appeared, wearing a black turtleneck and a wild expression. “I saw this coming, Ward. Hahaaa! You were holding out on me. Think of what we could do now that you can throw fire. Oh wait, Grant. You left me to be killed by Coulson! And what did it get you? Jack shit is what it got you, Grant Douglas Ward.” Grant paled, obviously shaken, and started shooting wildly. Skye took advantage of the distraction to hit Grant with two dendrotoxin bullets. John Garrett then morphed back into Tom Ward. They got Grant back in the van, and Lincoln swore in three languages as he took readings on Grant’s condition. “I’m going to have to go with him, Skye. He won’t survive the trip otherwise. The change is hard enough on him, but he hasn’t been taking care of himself while on the run, either.” The normally taciturn Jerry offered to go with Lincoln and Grant, as did Tom, but ultimately, they figured they could better make a cover story for Lincoln’s disappearance than for more members of the team. Tom and YoYo made some calls, and they met a Russian guy in the souvenir shop at nearby Carlsbad Caverns. The team and the Russian drove out to the back country, avoiding the trail that led to Lechuguilla Cavern, and prepared to move Grant and Lincoln to the Russian’s van. Tom lingered behind, holding a semi-conscious Grant’s hand. “Don’t die on me now. We haven’t talked since they sent you to juvie, and like, we still aren’t talking, but I want to talk again, okay? Skye and I will be along when we can.” Grant nodded deliriously, as Jerry came back to pick Grant up. Grant Ward came to full consciousness with the muffled sound of an airplane engine. He noticed he had a noise-canceling headset on, as he noticed the somewhat-familiar man did. The man was checking the shining acupuncture needles in Grant’s body, when he looked up and smiled at Grant. “Cargo plane,” the man mouthed at Grant, as he pointed to his own headset. Grant looked up to see that in addition to the witchdoctoring, the man had him also hooked up to an IV. Oddly, the nausea and headaches that had plagued him since the Broken Crystal Incident were gone, but he still felt weaker than the time he had caught an infection out in the woods. The man held up a tablet. On it, he had typed out, “ **My name is Lincoln. You were not doing well when the Team found you. I am taking you somewhere safe, not to any kind of prison. So please be cooperative**.” Grant nodded, and Lincoln wiped out and typed something else, “ **I was told to tell you two things: 1) This is your last chance. Cooperate or I will Puerto Rico you again 2) I owe you an asskicking for the well, so you better get better so I can collect**.” Lincoln wasn’t sure what the inside jokes were, but the smile on Grant’s face indicated that he knew.


	2. Chapter 2

The official word was that Grant Ward had slipped away again in Texas, and Lincoln Campbell was called away on a family emergency. Skye had enough discretion on her team to get away with this story to Coulson, and it was not questioned until a mission in Ossetia. Pyotr Ivanov, a mercenary and smuggler Coulson often worked with, had found himself kidnapped by a rogue faction. Both Coulson’s and Skye’s teams were pouring over Ivanov’s files in an attempt to find any connection they could use to find what work Ivanov might have done to bring attention to himself in this manner. YoYo and Tom quietly assembled a couple of boxes of documents, but as they handed these documents to Skye, Bobbi Morse caught them, and demanded to see the documents. The medical checkup forms, weapons orders and maintenance records all had two sets of very familiar handwriting. Both teams assembled in the conference room on the Iliad to discuss the actual whereabouts of Grant Ward and Lincoln Campbell, and why they were together. Coulson had put together a slide show of the documents Skye’s team were trying to hide, with a focus on those documents both men had written on and counter-signed. It was obvious now that for a period of at least two months, both men were together and voluntarily working for Pyotr Ivanov. Skye decided to come clean.

  
“I made the decision that we would capture Grant Ward, and take him to another Inhuman community. I contracted with Mister Ivanov to take him there after we had captured Grant in Texas. This was my decision and I take full responsibility. Grant Ward was making a very bad transition after his terrigenesis, and Lincoln accompanied him to this other community. It looks like the extra passenger meant there was more of a layover as Ivanov likely had to re-think how he was going to get two to the location, instead of just one. So it looks like Grant and Lincoln worked for room and board while Ivanov made the arrangements. Ward being there voluntarily was the only way anybody would have survived giving him weapons to catalog and maintain.”

  
The shock and betrayal from across the table was palpable, but Skye could feel the invisible support from her own team, as they sat around her and stared down the other agents and Coulson, not at all sorry for what they had done. All at once, the table erupted, and many voices shot barbs:  
“After everything Grant Ward has done to all of us?”  
“What the Hell do you people know about terrigenesis and controlling a Gift?”  
“Grant Ward is a psychotic criminal!”  
“That’s not for you to decide anymore!”  
“Really, Skye? Really? Are you that thirsty?”  
“Shut the FUCK up Torture Queen! Skye did the right thing!”

  
Bobbi was across the table, and shoving Tom, who had morphed into Daniel Whitehall. Skye jumped between them to stop the fight. “STOP IT, ALL OF YOU!” As Tom and Bobbi squared off on either side of her, Skye blasted both of them to the ground, and held her hands up to each side, stopping the brawl before it started. Everybody took about five breaths and calmed down. Skye looked at Tom, “Tom, Bobbi’s role in Palamas’s torture was addressed in her court-martial after Grant showed that tape to the entire Toledo media market, so there’s no need to go there with her. Apologize.” She turned to Bobbi, “For the record, this is not even about Grant Ward, but the right any Inhuman has to help from his fellow Inhumans. My feelings for Grant, or lack thereof, are not relevant here.”  
Coulson broke in, “I can accept that the hotel was due to a Gift Ward could not control, but he did a lot worse things before he ever checked into the hotel. And now, he has a brand new toy to use in his quest to burn the world down. I’m not Inhuman, but forgive me if I don’t see this as a positive development. If he was dying…..why not just…let him?” Without even having to look, Skye put a hand out to stop Jerry. She put her hands down and turned to face Coulson fully.

  
“You don’t understand, Phil. But that’s okay. Inhumans have survived right alongside Human society for centuries, and we have only done so because of certain traditions to which we try to adhere. This is something my mother taught me. And a very important part of this tradition is to understand that he or she who goes through terrigenesis is a new person. Once reborn, an Inhuman has a future, but no past. Their past, before the change, cannot be held against them. I ended up in Afterlife not far from Raina, for crying out loud. When I found out, I ran over to where she was, and was using my power on her. I thought she needed to suffer for the things she did. But….she was already suffering. And in the end, Raina saw that she was going to die in order to warn me about the attack my mother was planning, and she…” Skye’s voice cracked, “She did it anyway. If Raina had reverted to her old ways, the others would have had no problem putting her down. But I learned that day why a reborn Inhuman has a future, but no past.” Skye looked at May, “Bahrain was neither the first, nor would it be the last time things don’t go as envisioned. Innocent people have died, and occasionally, an unexpected Inhuman has emerged. It’s more important that an Inhuman get help than he or she face Human justice. We are dangerous as a people, and it is best when we handle these issues amongst ourselves. This fish oil thing has strained resources to their breaking point, and politics moves like molasses among other Inhuman communities. I will tell you, there are other Inhumans we have sent away rather than killed, when it could be avoided. If Grant is still a psycho after everything he is going through right now, we are far better equipped to handle him, especially now, than you are.”

  
Unexpectedly, Fitz started to nod in agreement. “It’s like why Catholic priests can’t talk about what people confess. It’s more important that they seek forgiveness from God than they face human justice, so the priests can’t blab to the authorities. It’s more important that Inhumans get medical help, training on their Gift, and get far away from the Humans than face the things they did before the change.” Skye smiled, and nodded in agreement, as the Inhumans on Skye’s team shrugged as if to say they could not have put it better themselves. Fitz continued, “Grant tried to kill me a year ago. But back in the hotel room, once he saw what that terrorist had, he used what I thought was his last moment to push me free of the “smoking” room before the crystal landed on the floor. I…I went to the window in the door after the movement stopped. I saw what I thought was a petrified body. He looked just like Trip did. And…I ran like a coward. If I had just checked on him, those firefighters didn’t need to die.” Skye clapped Fitz on the shoulders, “You just needed to recall all the training you have had to notice the difference between a petrified body and a terrigenesis cocoon.” Fitz gave her an “are you crazy?” look. “What training, Skye?” Skye nodded patiently, “Exactly. No training. You didn't know what you were looking at, and we all took your word for it until the fire started. And when Grant emerged from that cocoon, he left your jurisdiction and entered mine. If my people and I don't offer him that chance to heal and re-discover himself, well, let's think this through. He wasn't well when we found him, but we all know he has recovered from worse, physically. But with a barely-controlled Gift as powerful as his, he could end up doing things that bring way too much attention to the Inhumans, back when we were more of a secret, and would definitely not be using his Gift in a productive manner. Think of that mobster back in Tokyo.” The cringe around the table indicated most of the rest of them would rather not try to remember that mobster. "Look, I promise not to bring him anywhere near you guys, but I'm giving him his rights, and that's my final word on this."

As the agents filed out of the conference room, YoYo stayed behind. Her smile was warm, and a bit sad. "What you said today, Skye, you reminded me so much of your mother. The good parts, I mean. I wish you had more of an opportunity to know her without SHIELD breathing down all of our necks. She would have given Grant another chance, too. I miss her sometimes." Skye gave YoYo an equally sad smile. "I miss her too, YoYo. More than you can imagine. Even after all that happened. She went too far, and sometimes I go too far as well. I'm glad I have all of you to keep an eye on me for that. My mother is dead, and my father doesn't remember me. It's like I've had to step up to something I feel I barely know what to do." YoYo's smile warmed, "Your'e off to a good start."


	3. Chapter 3

The usual resort outside Katmandu the folks from the Big City liked to use to meet non-Inhumans was right out, given the earthquake. The resort itself had made it through the earthquake, but was way too crowded with aid workers and civilians in an unofficial field hospital for Inhumans to have the privacy they needed in the outside world. Fortunately, another resort was found in northern India, which some regarded as a much nicer place, despite the greater travel distance. Tom carried his and Skye’s bags, as Skye carried this cube-shaped cooler. She wasn’t sure Tom didn’t have the lighter load. This cooler was _heavy_.

 

They checked in at the old British Raj-era house, and put the bags and cooler in the back of the golf cart, which they took over to the bungalow. As they got close, they could hear a song blaring from the stereo through the open window. As the song reached its chorus, two male voices drunkenly sang along… “Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses!” The door to the bungalow popped open, and Lincoln and Grant shuffled down the porch steps to the back of the golf cart, grabbing bags and cooler. “Damn, Tommy,” Grant asked, “What’s in the cooler? Bricks?” Tom’s grin broadened. “Nope, Skye and I had a 2-day layover in Munich. Tickets into India drop in price after Diwali, you know. I made a pilgrimage to Weihenstephaner and Schneider breweries. You are carrying growlers of the best wheat beer in the world, fresh from the brewery, plus flight time from Munich. Lincoln grinned, “AWESOME!” and opened the cooler. Grant shrugged, “Eh, I think wheat beers are too sweet. I want my beer to bite me back. Give me a good IPA any time!” Tom and Lincoln looked at each other, then at Grant. “You know that IPA stands for INDIA Pale Ale, right?” Tom said. Lincoln finished the thought, “I think you _miiight_ be able to find an India Pale Ale in _India_ , don’t you? In the meantime, let’s drink what we have!” Lincoln turned to Skye, “Want to join us?” Skye glowered at the men, “No thank you.” She stormed into the bedroom and closed the door. Grant shrugged, and pretended to be unaffected. Tom took a big sip of his beer and pierced his brother with a look. “She knows it was you two in Samarqand.” Lincoln shook his head, “Grant’s cleared for duty, and we figured we owed Pyotr. He’s good people.” Grant nodded to agree. “She said Coulson didn’t want me near the team, and I stayed away as much as I could. But Linc and I were not going to cool our heels in Attilan and shop in the Old Market while there was something we could do.” Tom shrugged. He got why Grant and Linc did it, and with a little reflection, Skye would figure it out. Tom could sense his brother’s irritation, as well as Skye’s went further than that, but he also knew that the best thing to do with a grumpy Skye was to let her work through the worst of it without giving her a target. The therapist and friend in Tom knew that Skye tended to distract herself from her own introspection when she had a target. When she was allowed her own time to process what irritated her, she’d usually be more sensible.

Grant poured himself a beer and stomped off to the patio. Untangling Grant was a task Tom wished he would be assigned to do in some ways, but Tom understood that the ethics of his counseling profession kept him from having a direct role in his brother’s psychological care. He followed Grant out onto the patio. Lincoln followed them, dragging a bag of charcoal, and a shopping bag. Tom looked at Grant, as if to suggest Grant light the grill. Both Grant and Linc shook their heads. “I’d burn the grill itself,” Grant explained, “The fires I start are like Greek fire. They have to encounter material above a certain flash point before they burn out.” Tom couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing, “Oh, Grant! That Gift is so appropriate for you!” Grant gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes to his brother. “Yep, that’s me, Tommy, The Original Destructive Fuckup!” Tom put a hand on his brother’s shoulder and had the talk he wished he had had seventeen years ago, as Lincoln finally got the grill lit, and brought out the skewers of meat, some grillable vegetables, and even a couple of large portabella caps. The rest of the team showed up just as Lincoln closed the lid on the grill. So Lincoln quickly let the others in, and showed them where the fridge was. YoYo had convinced Skye to come out on the patio, but she glanced away as soon as she saw Grant, after staring at him for a few minutes. It was in that moment, seeing the two of them look at each other for more than a glancing moment, that Tom finally understood. This was why Tom was the only one grinning when Skye and Grant finally confronted one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUN! Stay tuned for a fight next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Skye walked up in front of where Grant was sitting, arms crossed. "Both Coulson's and my teams had Samarqand handled. We did not need you or Lincoln to horn in like you did." Five minutes ago, Tom Ward would have been amazed Skye was still this angry at his brother, who put his beer down, and stood up to his full height in front of their much shorter leader. "Skye, you act as if I dragged Lincoln along. When my source came through for me, neither team was as close in as we were. Lincoln and I both ended up liking Pyotr, and both of us wanted to see him rescued. We acted to rescue a friend and colleague, and I stayed away from Coulson's team, just like you asked." Skye refused to be intimidated by Grant's height, and poked him in the chest as she shot back, "You are damned lucky I don't hand you over to Coulson, and give you another stint in Vault D, mister!" Grant put his hands on his hips, "Oh please, they'd put a bullet in my head. Maybe they'd let you do it if you asked nicely." This earned him a shove, and Tom jumping between them. "Okay, you guys need to take the drama inside, here," Tom gestured to the door, where Skye and Grant reluctantly decamped to the living room. Everybody on the patio had paused to watch the fight. Tom waved at them divisively, "Show's over right now. I'll keep a mental eye on them, but I think they are just having a…shall we say…. previously repressed conversation?" Jerry smiled as he got back to work slicing pineapples for the grill, explaining to YoYo, "They're having a lover's spat." It was moments like these when Tom remembered Jerry might be the strong, silent type, but when he talked, he was rather astute.

 

When Skye and Grant reached the living room, Skye faced Grant in what was almost a combat stance, but with her hands on her hips. Grant loped into the room, appearing indifferent to Skye's anger, which infuriated her further "I went to a lot of trouble and expense to get you medical care and get you to Attilan, Ward. And what do I get for my trouble, but you rushing off into danger the moment you could bully Lincoln into clearing you? I don't know why I even bothered!" Grant plopped down on the sofa and rolled his eyes. "You did it because I'm one of you now, and you can't call yourself a defender of Truth, Justice, and the Inhuman Way if you let me get an execution date. Don't pretend you have done me a personal favor. You're probably figuring out the next way you can shoot me in the back. So just do it. Get your gun and shoot me right here and now. At least do me the favor of shooting me face-to-face." The floor made a slight tremor, and they could hear the door from the patio open. Skye breathed more heavily, and the tremor passed. "Dammit, Ward, if I wanted you dead, you'd BE dead! What do you take me for? A cat toying with her food?" Grant tapped his side, and picked up a magazine from the coffee table. he pretended to read it. "I don't know anymore. I thought I knew, but that was a long time ago. You certainly know how to get someone to stop caring, if they're… not crazy." He threw the magazine down with a snap, folded his arms, and leaned back on the sofa. "Don't start with me, Ward," Skye growled, "You chose…you chose JOHN fucking GARRETT over the team, and over me. Don't give me this 'I'm crazy enough to still care about you' BULLSHIT! You didn't care when it COUNTED!" 

 

Grant breathed in and out loudly, but he calmly asked Skye, "Imagine there's a gun to the heads of Phil Coulson and your father, Cal. Save one, you doom the other. Now which do you choose?" There was a beat, "The fact you have to think about this tells me everything. Welcome to 2013 in my life, Skye. Say what you will about John Garrett, that man was more of a father to me than my own father. He went crazy at the end, and I realized I had made the wrong choice. I thought I could protect Garrett and keep you safe. But I was wrong. And Fitzsimmons had to suffer for the wrong things I did. Everyone suffers when I fuck up. Maybe that's why my Gift ended up being an almost impossible-to-quench fire that doesn't burn me. Kind of fitting." Skye plopped on a chair "Hah. Welcome to me ten months ago, Grant. You got to miss the fun with my mother and her little war on SHIELD. At least I had Raina's help in making the right choice. Speaking of wrong choices, couldn't you have played that tape of Kara's torture on Toledo's ABC affiliate _instead_ of torturing Bobbi? Two wrongs don't make a right." Grant looked at the floor, "I thought I could give Kara closure with an apology from Morse." "Well, Ward," Skye said in a very Leslie Knope voice, "That was the wrong way to go about it, especially if you had a right way with the tape. I can't protect you from the Outsiders if you keep going off the reservation like with the Ivanov case, or going off half-cocked like with Bobbi." A yawn took over as she finished her thought, "And don't even start with that 'complete solution' business. I need your skills, and you need my protection." Skye rubbed her eyes. Jet lag had chosen the wrong time to remind Skye that her body had barely adapted to Munich time after Eastern Standard Time, when she was suddenly in Punjab. "I am not welcome back anywhere near SHIELD, Skye," Grant reminded her. "Yeah, and it's your own fault, Ward. I do have discretion to hire contractors. I've been contacted by Romanoff for some help with a job. She specifically needs your brother for one part of the job, but I figure you can be part of the other…"

 

Tom felt like a gawky fourteen-year-old in the presence of the beautiful redhead sitting across from him, but he really wanted Grant to get back out here. Jen-Jen was more Grant's age than his, even though right now, Thomas Terrence Ward had the cleanest record of all Jennifer Walter's living relatives. "My brother is sort of having it out with my team leader right now. He knew Jennifer better than I did. She babysat me a couple of times and all. I want to consult with him before I go to Texas and sign that permission form on her behalf." Natasha Romanoff nodded, and walked into the living room, as the rest of the team cowered. Nobody had the courage to stop the fight when their loud voices drowned out the radio up until a few minutes ago. When they got to the living room, Grant was just covering a Skye finally surrendering to jet lag with a blanket as Natasha walked in. "Grant, I hope Skye was able to explain the mission. Tom's and my plane leaves in two hours for LA, and a connection to Houston. Before then, I would like you to drive us to the airport and tell your brother why Jennifer Walters needs that serum from Bruce Banner." Grant nodded, and completed with what Skye told him, "And then I am to take the rest of the team to go and find Banner, to inform him of what happened. I take it Banner would not have signed those papers?" Natasha nodded to confirm. "Jennifer has only days, much longer than it would take me to find Bruce anyway. All the other prosecutors in San Miguel County are too intimidated to pick up her case. If she lives, she will personally ensure El Diablo is in line for the needle. If she dies, El Diablo will practically run the county." Grant nodded, understanding. He turned to Tommy, who was cowering behind Natasha until it was clear Skye's and Ward's fight was over. "Rest assured, Tommy," Grant proclaimed, "If prosecuting El Diablo is what's at stake, Jen-Jen would do what it takes to recover from that murder attempt, even if she has to wear a little more green now. Let's go catch a plane!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tie-in to She-Hulk! Woohooo!


	5. Chapter 5

Fiji was a success, even if Team Caterpillar came back with some bruises and scars. Tom was still shaken that he had found someone against whom his usual weapon did not work. But as he was the team “shrink,” it was a question of who would shrink the shrink’s head. This was how he ended up, slightly buzzed, sitting next to his big brother, in a philosophical discussion about terrigenesis.

“I really think we made a breakthrough the other day, when talking about your Gift, Grant,” Tom began, “The key to learning control of your Gift is understanding what your Gift is, and why you have it.” Grant looked over at him with a confused look on his face, “I have my Gift because a group of Inhuman terrorists thought I was not Inhuman, and they tried to kill me with a terrigen crystal. Which was very, very stupid on their part. I happened to be Inhuman, and quite angry when I got out of that shell thing. Which is the chance one takes using a terrigen crystal as a weapon. Darwin wins again.” Tom chuckled,

“That’s the _how_ , Grant. Not the _why_. A Gift is part of yourself. My own life was dominated by terror and fear. You and Christian only _thought_ your lives would have been better if Mom could stand you. Ever since my own terrigenesis back in Afterlife, I have thought about what Gifts my family might have had. Mother would have spat poison, I am sure. She never could stand your birth mother, and I was less a person to her than proof she was so much better than your mother. That’s not love, or even affection, Grant.  I was as afraid of her in a different way as the rest of you. And then there was you and Christian. I actually thought Chrissy-poo would have been the one to start uncontrollable fires. But he was always in control, wasn’t he? Anyway, when I went through the Mists, my Gift was fear itself. What had harmed me became my weapon. The beginning of my ability to control my Gift was when I understood this.”

Grant finished his whiskey, and poured another, with a thoughtful look on his face, “I’m _not_ the picture of mental health, Tommy. I’m not even good, like Skye is. Why do I have a Gift where I set uncontrollable fires? Couldn’t I have ended up, I don’t know, making flowers bloom or something that doesn’t hurt people?” Grant tilted his head for a moment, and answered his own question, “I haven’t had a lot of control over things in my life. And I’m…destructive. But Skye is so much better off than I am…” Tom put a hand up, “Not breaking confidences, not even for my brother, but think about it: Skye drifted from foster home to foster home, and you and Coulson found her in a damned van. Not an indicator of someone who necessarily had her own shit together, or a lot of control over things in her life. The need for control, in my opinion, produces those powers that are the most destructive and hardest to control. I needed to control my own fear to be able to use my ability to reflect fear to its greatest advantage. Control the element you command, and you can control your life. At least until you find that asshole who is immune.” Tom rubbed the bruise on his cheek to remind himself. Grant offered another drink to Tom, as he finished what was in his hand. Tom shook his head, and started rinsing the glass out in the sink. Grant got a bottled iced coffee from the fridge and put it in front of his brother. “Tom, I’ve been in the game long enough to know there’s always someone bigger and badder. And it’s not an existential crisis if you lose a skirmish to him. You just have to train harder, or…adapt.” Tom smiled and took the proffered coffee. “It’s just been an article of faith with me that _everybody_ is afraid of _something_ ….”

 

Unbeknownst to them both, Skye had heard most of the conversation between the brothers. Especially the part about her. Tom didn’t tell Grant anything more than Grant himself knew, but something Tom said about her common quest for control with Grant somehow rankled her. That, and the notebook Lincoln had given her from Raina’s hut sent Skye pounding on the punching bag for most of the evening. This was where Grant found her at dinnertime. Grant caught Skye’s eyeroll when she noticed him. “Well, Skye, here I was, all fat, dumb, happy and thinking we were making some progress, here. You can at least come to dinner.” Skye stopped punching, exhaled, and grabbed the bag. “Sorry, Grant. I just…I…heard you and Tom talking about me and how our Gifts are something in common.” Grant nodded, and finished the thought, “And because of everything that happened on Coulson’s team, you don’t want to think about having anything in common with me. I understand.” Grant turned away, but Skye wasn’t done. “So Grant, what did I just go and do but the most Grant Ward thing I could be doing right now, just to prove I’m nothing like you. How did that happen?” Grant turned back towards Skye and they chuckled. “I wasn’t going to say that…” Grant started, but Skye finished, “But you’d think it all day. Look, I’m kind of gross right now, so let me get a shower real quick.” She dashed off to the shower, and later joined Grant and the rest of the team at the table. Oddly, for once she seemed utterly open and completely closed off, all at the same time, especially towards Grant.

 

As the team started to debate what to watch that night, Skye took Grant aside. “Lincoln gave me a diary Raina had been keeping back in Afterlife. Raina, it turns out, was actually clairvoyant. She made a number of predictions that came true. And Grant, it said if we ended up together, you would leave me pregnant and alone, coming back only for the child.” Grant could not have looked more confused. Skye continued, “So that means we can’t get together. We can be friends, but if I’m having someone’s baby, I want a baby from a man who will stay with me.” Grant’s jaw dropped, he was shocked, offended and angry. “Okay, Skye? _You_ were the one who said Raina lies. And this prediction crap is like consulting your horoscope before tying your shoelaces. You are precluding giving us a chance because of something _Raina_ said?” Skye looked away, “I didn’t think you’d understand. Raina told a lot of truths, in the end, whether or not my mother, me, or anyone else wanted to hear them. And she said she saw me pregnant and alone. I…I don’t want that, no matter how I feel about you. And Grant, I think I’ve had a crush on you since….since back in the van. And every time things seem to be working out, something happens. I can’t take it anymore. It’s better if we don’t start. It will hurt less…” She looked up into Grant’s eyes, as he shook his head in an emphatic negative.

“Skye, I’ve had crushes. Garrett made me betray them in the end. Every one of them. Crushes never got me through stints in the various prisons I have found myself in over the years like my hope of seeing you again. You were the daughter of the Immortal Girl Whitehall was always talking to Garrett about. If you were a crush, I would not have kept that piece of information from Garrett. I withheld information from Coulson so they would send you to me and quit jerking me around, saying that HYDRA had found and killed you. That’s not a crush, Skye. You are something far more than that to me. Believe me, I tried to take those feelings and bury them as deeply as I could. But after that time I ran at the wall, my third attempt to kill myself, the one after May told me HYDRA had dissected you, I came to accept that my feelings were something much more real than a crush. Even trying to settle for a life in semi-retirement with Kara wasn’t working. I am crazy, Skye. Because I can’t stop feeling what I feel towards you. It’s stronger than my hate, stronger than HYDRA, stronger than my training. Hell, it’s stronger than Sledge. Something always pulls me towards you, and I think you feel it too. It's like a seed or something. The deeper you bury it, the bigger it gets when it bursts out.” Skye nodded, and met Grant’s eyes as a tear slipped out of her own eyes. Grant wiped it with his hand, and before either of them knew it, their lips were locked together. Sebastian Druid took that moment to come around the corner to ask Skye and Grant to break the tie on what to watch, when he closed his mouth with a pop, went back around the corner, grabbed some dice from a bag, and called out. “Skye and Grant won’t be joining us tonight. We’ll roll dice to break the tie!”

Both Skye and Grant chuckled into the kiss as they heard Sebastian, and headed towards Skye’s quarters. As she opened the door, she shrugged, “I have an implant, and Lincoln just filled the implant. So maybe you don’t get me pregnant right now.” Grant chuckled as he closed her door and began taking off his jacket, “And for the record, Skye, if you were having my baby, wild horses could not drag me away from the two of you. You’d look sexy with a belly…but not yet….”


	6. Chapter 6

Grant piloted the inflatable boat with a silent engine as he scowled at the blip on the screen of his tracking unit, dodging ships in Singapore Harbor. Just to add to the nightmare caused by the terrigen-infused fish oil, some inmates in the prisons in Attilan had rioted and escaped. Fortunately, enough people who were Human criminals before their unprepared transformations had taken the batch of fish oil that Skye didn’t feel the need to advise Coulson and SHIELD of the differences. They all needed apprehension and arrest. Grant was tracking an Attilan escapee who could breathe air and water. Taking a look at the waters in the harbor, Grant figured if he had gills, he’d be nicer to them than this. But Henry was smart enough to find a way he presumed Grant could not follow him. Henry was dumb enough not to check the object he had stolen for a tracker, which Grant was using to trace him to the carrier. Grant barely activated the camouflage on the boat as he saw the SHIELD logo and the name _Iliad_.

Sebastian and Lincoln were too far out to pick up the pursuit in time, and Grant felt he needed to stop Henry before he was able to steal a jet from the carrier deck. So despite the assurances from Skye that Grant would stay away from Coulson’s team, Grant found himself sneaking onboard the _Iliad_ in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, Henry was pretty good, and Grant couldn’t keep things quiet enough to keep from being noticed. Henry got away, as Bobbi and Lance focused on apprehending Grant. Grant barely got away from Bobbi and Lance, calling out, “Way to go. The real criminal here just got away with some Chitauri tech. Good luck getting it back from AIM!” Grant dashed below decks blindly, and blundered into Fitz’s lab. The stone in its transparent cage splashed repeatedly against the walls, as Grant felt the compulsion to watch. He almost could not react to the cocked gun, as Fitz held it to him. Grant raised his hands, the pistol helping break the compulsion the rock was putting on him. “Hello, Leo. Skye was supposed to come here this evening to tell you what she was able to find out on her end. It’s not good news, I’m afraid. She was consulting with an Inhuman hacker better versed in Kree computer systems, and neither of them could find a way to tell you where this Snatcher would have taken Jemma. Not without painting a big target on our backs. The Kree are likely to just decide to “cleanse” all of Earth instead of just hunting the Inhumans down.” Grant could hear noises down the hallway, indicating Bobbi and Lance were getting close. “Leo, there’s only one way. I know I have not done right by you, and that is one of my biggest regrets. I know there’s nothing I can do to earn your forgiveness. But in the name of the friendship we used to have, I’m going to bring her back if I can.” Grant quickly disarmed Fitz, pushed him out of the room, and shot the lock off the box in which the Snatcher was kept. Fitz had barely made it back in as the stone swept Grant into its depths. When Lance and Bobbi found Fitz, he was pounding on the solid stone and crying.

When Skye landed on the carrier deck thirty minutes later, the outside air was too much, and she threw up the moment her feet hit the deck. Tom handed Skye a Kleenex he had dosed with some scented oil as he and Lincoln walked next to her towards Coulson’s team. They quickly went below towards Coulson’s office. “Sorry about that, DC, Skye smiled sadly as she put the scented tissue in her pocket, “Everything smells bad right now. I was going to ask for some leave after I briefed you on my findings, but I guess this is how you all find out I’m pregnant. I was a victim of the Contratec recall. Grant didn’t even know. I was going to tell him tonight.” There was some reaction as Skye had disclosed the paternity of her unborn child. Skye looked sadly at the floor. “Raina had left a diary, and no you cannot have it. She said I would be pregnant and alone. At least he didn’t abandon me.” May quickly substituted iced tea for the wine glass in front of Skye, and patted her on the back. Fitz got up from the table, and gave Skye a bear hug, whispering, “I’m here for you” in her ear. This seemed to re-focus Skye, and she briefed the team as the yeoman served their dinner.

“I’m not sure what all Grant told you before he went in the thing, but it’s called, colloquially, a Snatcher. It detects Inhuman DNA, and grabs anyone who has it, to take them to some kind of Kree prison. But you already knew that part. I can tell you there are three places in the Solar System to which the Snatcher would have been set to take Jemma, and she is at none of these locations. One of these locations is the city under Puerto Rico, and the damage to the city meant that a team of Inhuman divers with gills and lungs had to thoroughly explore the place before we could rule that out. The other two places are large Inhuman settlements that also had to be thoroughly searched. But the beacons by which the Snatcher knows where to teleport the prisoners have been deactivated at all three locations. Let’s just say my people don’t like unexpected visitors. The information Fitz has been able to gather gave Shameka and myself enough of a look at the Snatcher’s code to know it would not have transported Jemma and…Grant somewhere incompatible with Human or Inhuman life. Somewhere within teleportation range of the Snatcher is a Kree facility. And here is where it gets tricky. The Kree are almost on a par with Asgard as far as technology goes. They are light-years ahead of us. I know security code when I see it, regardless of the language, and any attempt to hack the Snatcher and use it to find where it took Jemma and Grant would activate security measures on the Kree end of things. This makes things too risky. It’s bad enough that two examples of living Inhumans will have popped into the laps of the Kree, a hack attempt using as much Kree and Kree-hybrid technology as the Inhumans have retained could bring the Kree on top of _all_ of us. The fish oil incident would just prove that the entire Human genome is “polluted” with “abominations,” and the Kree would just kill us all. But there is one bit of good news we got today.” Everybody leaned in, the dinner forgotten. “Raina was right, yet again. Even beyond her grave. She said I would go through this pregnancy alone, but Grant would return when the child was born. Mid-April is when I am due.”

Fitz quickly finished his dinner and prepared to leave the table. Coulson looked at him strangely. “Fitz, where are you going?” Fitz turned and smiled. “Okay, as odd as I find this Raina prophecy thing, I’m getting back to work to bring Jemma and Grant back. Skye thought Raina said Grant would abandon her. But he was snatched away. So she says Grant will be back in April. Grant promised to bring Jemma back if he can. So I know if I get back to work, it may mean I will succeed in bringing them back. I’m not sitting on my arse for eight months, to be sure! Don’t worry, Skye. I will use one-hundred-percent Human technology. If I can hack the Snatcher with non-Kree and non-Inhuman technology, the Kree won’t get suspicious. I have work to do!”


	7. Chapter 7

Going through a pregnancy alone was not an easy thing. Skye was on reduced duty, given the hazardous nature of her job, but trained as much as her growing belly would let her. Tom was a wonderful Lamaze partner, but Lincoln assured her she was likely to be drugged during labor to keep her Gift from going out of control. Grant's absence let Skye get back in touch more with Coulson's team, and May wore out and broke five crochet needles making clothing and blankets for the baby. Bobbi had the most amazing shopping karma, and was able to find the cutest outfits and baby supplies at insanely good prices. When YoYo lost her arms on a mission, and Fitz built her a new set of metal arms, YoYo chose to knit a ton of baby hats in all colors as her way to assert fine control of her new arms. Grant had not abandoned Skye, he was just far away, not even knowing his daughter was on her way. But nights were cold, lonely, and silent. Skye could imagine curling up to Grant, Grant talking to her growing belly, calming her down after her nightmares, and getting slowly used to the idea of fatherhood. Who knows how he was going to handle it when he got back? Skye had nothing but Raina's writings to assure her Grant would be back, but hope wasn't warm at night. Many nights, Skye would cry herself to sleep, arms around her growing belly, until the little one kicked. Skye would smile, and tell the little one about her daddy.

 

Somewhere on a distant solar system, in a cell kept colder than any bedroom Skye would sleep in right now, two tattooed prisoners lay next to one another, shrouded in breathing masks, trying to stay warm, each with his or her own nightmares. The other prisoners figured the two were mating, but they would be wrong. Deep in the night, the guards kicked them both awake for transfer to the Kyln. Their fellow prisoners were not unhappy to see them go. J'ma was a favorite toy of theirs before Gront showed up, and started burning people with his fists. Gront soon had J'ma beating her former attackers bloody, and even if J'ma did not have an ability herself, she was tough in her own way, and the others stayed out of the way of the Abominations. Apparently the Kyln was kept at conditions much more suitable to the Abominations' biology, and the Blueskins would not have to spend so much on supplemental oxygen…..

 

Skye was decorating the nursery at Jiaying's old house in Attilan. Shameka, the hacker who had helped Skye with the Snatcher, was there with her, deftly dodging her ankle-length fuchsia dreadlocks as she hung knitted lace curtains the same shade as the hair and fur that covered her body around the pink-and-black bassinet. Tom had gotten the old-fashioned-looking Gothic bassinet who-knows-where, along with an assortment of black baby clothes with skulls and band logos. "That, Skye, is my masterpiece, those curtains," Shameka beamed with pride, "I'll have to find some more of that hair vitamin for next fall. It really helped the texture of the yarn for the lace. As much fur as I grow, and as warm-natured as I am, it's a good thing I love spinning and knitting so much! Shameka scratched her recently-shorn belly, visible under her crop top. Even May would pester Skye for more of that wonderful pink yarn. Suddenly, Skye grabbed her stomach. Shameka cocked her head and looked at Skye. "How long has that been going on?" Skye nodded, "About thirty minutes. But no sign of my water breaking." Shameka put down the box of crocheted sweaters she was about to put in drawers, and grabbed the "baby bag." "Sometimes that won't happen until just before birth, Skye. We'd better head to the hospital," Shameka said, herding Skye out the door, and calling up a flying platform.

 

The news that Skye was in labor (her water broke just as they were about to send her home) had Fitz practically dancing, as he set in place the probes on the Snatcher, with MacK's help. As he hit the switch, an alarm went up, and everybody scrambled to the flight deck of the Iliad. In the middle of the burned knotwork pattern indicative of Asgardian transport, stood Grant and Jemma. Fitz had to stay behind and shut some things down, but he quickly texted something on his cell phone and ran out onto the flight deck. SHIELD soldiers in riot gear surrounded Grant and Jemma, both of whom were holding weapons and shouting over the soldiers at Coulson. When Fitz caught up, his phone vibrated. Fitz checked it, looked up to the sky, smiled, and ran towards the action. As he made it there, he could hear Jemma and May yelling. "I am not some delusional girl, May. I promised Ward safe passage back to Skye's team, and I will see he gets it!" May rolled her eyes, "It's obvious the Asgardians brought you back, not Ward. Let us take Ward into custody, Jemma." Jemma went from covering the soldiers to specifically aim her alien weapon at May. "Melinda, how the Hell do you think we got to where Sif could have us sent back here? Grant got me out during a prison riot, and stole a spaceship. Sif didn't transport us from the prison. Grant took us to a planet where she was." Coulson chimed in, "Grant Ward is a criminal. He does not deserve to go free, and per my agreement with Skye, if he shows up here I get to arrest him." Jemma re-aimed her gun and snarled, "Not happening, Coulson. Go and get Doctor Garner or whoever if you think shrinking my head is going to change my mind. Grant may be a criminal, but when you are an innocent person in a prison that would make Amnesty International have kittens, a criminal is not such a bad friend to have! Save the condescension. This is a matter of a promise I made and I intend to keep!" "You also promised to kill Ward," Bobbi reminded her. Jemma glared at her, "And if I had done so, I would have died in prison while the Kree and Asgardians nattered away." At this point Jemma had noticed Fitz. This was the only thing that caused her to waver, as Grant changed his coverage. Fitz simply barged forward. "Leo, I'm sorry, but I promised Grant safe passage home." Fitz nodded, smiled, and pointed upwards, as the Quinjet overhead dropped ropes for all three of them. "Don't worry, Jem. We're on the same page here." All three scrambled up the ropes, as everybody on the deck lowered their weapons, and the Quinjet flew off to Punjab. 

Jerry Sledge gave Grant a hug, then quickly bounced over to Jemma and Leo. Grant turned to Fitz and shook his hand. "Thank you, Leo. I don't know why you did it, but thank you." Fitz smiled back, "You kept your promise, and I knew they were going to try and arrest you. The plan was that my experiment would bring you back. Kind of a letdown that Sif got there first, eh? Anyway, Sebastian and Jerry are the only non-Inhumans on the team, so I knew they would not be in the City when....oh dear, I think I need to explain myself." Fitz led Grant back towards the center of the Quinjet. He got Jemma's attention, and made sure they were strapped in next to one another. Fitz had an awkward look on his face, and Jerry covered his mouth uncomfortably, as he opened his own safety belt in anticipation. "Grant, do you remember what Skye might have told you about that diary of predictions Raina had left her?" Grant looked puzzled, then nodded with a skeptical look on his face. "It was some crap about me leaving her when she was pregnant. Total nonsense. We used birth control, and if that had failed, I would not have left her side! I don't know what orifice Raina pulled that from, or why Skye believed it." Leo Fitz closed his eyes, breathed in, and said quietly, "That's what happened when you were gone. She had one of a bad batch of contraceptive implants, and was going to tell you the day you went into the Snatcher. She's apparently giving birth right now to your daughter, or she would have been here."

Grant's eyes widened with pain and shock, "NO! No, this can't be true! This has to be a joke or something. It's not funny! I promised Skye I would be there for her, and now circumstances make me a liar. AGAIN! FUCK!" He put his face in his hands, and breathed heavily. The temperature in the fuselage was beginning to rise. Jemma recovered from her own shock, "Grant, this was not your fault. You didn't leave her, you were taken like I was. She shouldn't hold that against you...." Jemma turned to Fitz, "...does she?" Fitz shook his head with a definite expression. "Come on, Grant. Get your Gift back under control, dear. We have to drop off the Muggles, and we'll be off to the City to see Skye and meet your little girl." Grant was sobbing loudly, but Sledge managed to put a hand on his shoulder. "Grant, you're going to be there for the most important part, and Skye knows it." Sledge's rough skin was not affected by Grant's radiating heat, and Grant needed that touch. Sledge smiled, a rare thing for him, "My sperm donor raped my mom. Obviously, neither of us wanted him in our lives. But after I was born, my mom met this great guy, and he got to be my dad. I'm a...freak because of what my birth dad was, but I'm the man I am today because of who my stepdad was. So you didn't get to help Skye through the pregnancy. So what? You get to be the dad now, and that's so much more important." Grant looked up at the normally taciturn man, and the nods of agreement from Fitz and Simmons. He patted Sledge's hand, as the temperature started to cool. "Besides," joked Fitz, "If you want to watch Skye throw up a lot and buy her ice cream at four in the  morning, just...make a little brother or sister." They all had to chuckle at that one.

Jemma and Leo said their good-byes, and even gave one another a kiss, before Jemma piled into the Quinjet, with Grant in the cockpit. They landed a few hours later in the Attilan spaceport, and fought for a floating platform to the hospital. Jemma looked like a country bumpkin in the big city for the first time, gawking at everything. She almost jumped a few feet in the air, as a pink, fuzzy woman with very long dreadlocks ran at her to give her and Grant a hug. "Yaaaay! Y'all got home in time! Okay, umm, I'm Shameka Taylor, I've been working with Skye to bring y'all back to Earth, and ummm, Tom and I have been seeing each other." Grant gave Shameka another hug, as Shameka guided them towards the maternity ward. When Skye saw who her visitors were, she brightened, as the tiny bundle in her arms was nursing from her. "Callie, honey. Daddy's home. Daddy's home to see you!" Little Callista Rose Ward finished her meal and made a loud sound in her diaper. Everybody in the room chuckled. "Just in time, it seems," Skye quipped, handing Grant his newborn daughter with a passionate kiss on Grant's lips. Everybody watched as Grant unwrapped the blanket and changed his daughter's diaper. As he finished, and Tom ran down the hall to dispose of the diaper, Grant counted her ten perfect little fingers, ten perfect little toes, rose-colored lips, and shock of jet-black hair. As everybody gasped, Callista opened her eyes for the first time. They were almond-shaped like her mother's and the irises were jet black. Grant smiled at his daughter as a tear escaped down his cheek, and Jemma took a penlight from somewhere and shined it at Callie's eyes. "Hello, beautiful. Welcome to the world. I'm....I'm your daddy." Callie tried to turn her head, and stuck her tongue out. "Jem, did you see the eyes?" Jemma was beaming as well, "Rare among Caucasian babies, but Skye is not fully Caucasian. Callie just has dark eyes." Shameka added, "You have the same color eyes as my daddy, and Skye the same color as my mama. My eyes didn't change when I went through the Mists." Grant wrapped his daughter back up, kissed her on the forehead, and handed her back to Skye. "She's perfect, like her mother." Skye smiled back, "And I could not wait to see her, like I've been wanting to see her dad again." 


	8. Chapter 8

SIX WEEKS LATER

As Jemma, Skye, and Callie in Skye's arms emerged from the Quinjet, they were both hit by the smell of grilling burgers and the sounds of some 1990s R&B from a nearby set of speakers. Lincoln and MacK were doing a little dance as they flipped burgers and placed cheese, pineapple, and other requested items on top for the last go-round. Fitz was starting to open a bag of buns, but quickly put them down as he ran across the landing strip at the Playground. Simmons ran down the rest of the ramp towards Fitz, and Skye stole one last look back up into the aircraft, lifted the baby’s arm from the blanket and waved it. She then turned back and walked down the ramp as Fitz and Simmons ran back for her. The Quinjet promptly took off, as Fitz and Simmons waved it good-bye. They walked the rest of the length of the tarmac back over to the grill, as Coulson and May finished laying out a table of condiments and putting plates with completed burgers on the table as quickly as MacK and Lincoln could assemble them from the grill. The music changed to a more recent country song, likely Lincoln’s choice, as Lincoln began to sing along. Before Skye could reach the table, Bobbi had taken Callie from her, and both seemed to get along. Skye got to eat her cheeseburger in peace, as the baby was passed among the women at the base. Coulson tapped her on the shoulder. “Your pilot could have had a burger. He didn’t have to leave that soon…” Coulson caught the slightly sad look in Skye’s eye as she shook her head in the negative, and nodded, understanding. As they finished their lunch, Coulson felt that distance from Skye, which had really been growing since Skye was given her own team. Skye smiled up at the pink decorations, mixed with graduation caps. The team was celebrating both the baby and Lincoln’s final graduation from medical school. Both events had already been celebrated in Attilan. Coulson tried to be discreet about checking Skye’s left hand. While she was not wearing a ring, there was a tell-tale tan line, and Skye was wearing a new chain, whose end disappeared under her t-shirt. While he did not approve of Skye’s choice of groom, something saddened him about Skye having gotten married without telling the old team.

Jemma had taken Fitz off somewhere, and when Fitz emerged again, his face was a mask over a boiling fury. He came to join Coulson and Skye at the table, attacking his burger before he could finally get the words to speak. “Jem’s resting now, and I suspect Skye will be soon, too.” Skye shook her head, unconsciously poking a breast. “Callie has one more feeding, but I am sort of about to fall over. Got used to a time zone about twelve hours away. So….um, did you guys get to talk?” Fitz nodded, hesitantly. Skye could take a hint, “I think I’ll go find my daughter and see the rest of you in a few hours.” Lincoln came up to join the other two men. Fitz rolled his head for a minute to stretch before he began.

“I’m sorry if you two were catching up, Director, but some of what I got to hear was strictly in confidence, and how I feel about it…er, I don’t want to hear some social justice lecture about how I’m supposed to feel about what happened. The other prisoners, they…hurt Jemma. They used her and beat her, and the goddamn guards didn’t give a flying shyte about it!” May tried to join them, but could take Coulson’s hint to back off. Fitz continued, “When Ward showed up, they were beating her, and he put three of them in the hospital ward. Good on him, I say. He then protected her, and had her beat up some of the other prisoners. Part of me is very disturbed by that, but then I remember some of the things my da tried to tell me in some of the prison visits. I thought it went in one ear and out the other. I was the better man, you see. I was going to hew to the law and keep out of gaol. I didn’t need to know that in prison you do the beating or you get beaten. You can’t even let them take the roll off your tray in the lunch line. Grant couldn’t be everywhere she was at all times. If Jem was going to have peace in the loo or whatever, she was going to need to make it clear she could hold her own in a fight. The one tattoo she held onto once she got back was the one that has the Kree word for “abomination” across her knuckles.” Lincoln nodded to confirm. “Jemma was adamant about keeping that one. Had our new Doctor Lincoln Campbell here remove the rest. Att-er, their city had better facilities than we do for that. She’s been working some with Tommy, but Tommy’s wanting her to work with Doctor Garner.” Lance asked the question he knew Coulson wouldn’t, “How do you know Jemma was not manipulated by Ward? He’s good at that, you know.”

Fitz nodded, as it was a fair question. “First of all, Ward has had zero opportunity to manipulate me, and I was the one who conspired with Druid and Jerry to get Ward away, should my experiments with the Snatcher have borne fruit. Simple decency dictated that if Ward kept his promise to me to bring Jemma back from the Kree prison, it should not be rewarded with Ward’s own re-imprisonment. You can dock my pay for the time I spent in India and confine me to quarters for three weeks, but you can’t make me sorry for it. Secondly, Jemma told me they were not sleeping together. The basis of their alliance was to get back to Earth and the people they love. Sleeping together was too much like…giving up on that. Thirdly, Lincoln could tell you why I believed her.” Everybody turned to Lincoln, who was nodding along. He started at having the focus on himself, but recovered. “Fitz, you forgot the notes Tommy and I showed you where Grant was planning to volunteer to go into the stone as well. He didn’t know Skye was pregnant at the time, and he figured he was the most expendable. He was going to bring it up once Skye got back from the meeting in Singapore. But I think what Fitz was referring to was the fact Jemma had one of the failing contraceptive implants as well, and did not come back pregnant. The….others in the prison were probably not genetically compatible. I found no evidence she was ever pregnant. Fortunately, if she wasn’t compatible enough to get pregnant, she wasn’t compatible enough to catch diseases.” Lincoln could see Fitz’s knuckles turn white. “Fitz, you might want to consider working with Garner as well, or even Tom Ward. Tom’s really good at helping you face those fears you are having about Jemma right now. He’s done a lot with Jemma so far. He’s just sure that Jemma can’t speak as freely about Grant with him as she could with Garner. And the story of their escape…WHOO! Did she tell you, Fitz, or is she saving it for dinner?”

 

Despite dinner being Bobbi’s famous lasagna, it was getting cold as Jemma spun her tale. Even Skye, who had heard it already, was fascinated: “So, Grant yanks me into this other line, and he tells me it was because the raccoon was in the line. I told him that it was probably some alien who looked like a raccoon, and what was a raccoon supposed to know about how to get to Earth anyway? He tells me the raccoon told him he was the second sonofabitch to call him a raccoon, and he was trying to follow the raccoon in hopes of finding the first sonofabitch.” The team chuckled, and Jemma continued, “There was this bloke with reddish-brown hair calling himself Star Lord in the cell with us and the raccoon. He was from Earth, to be sure, but he was kidnapped as a child after his mum died, and he had no more clue than the raccoon as to how to get back to Earth. One good thing was that I wasn’t the only woman in the cell. And the others seemed to be afraid of the other woman. She knew something about our situation, that we were ‘politicals.’ She told us there was a planet called Shalmazz, where some high-level negotiations were happening with the Asgardians and the Kree, involving us, apparently. One of the ironies of Human history, apparently, was that the Nazis on Earth idolized Asgardian myth, while it has been the Asgardians who have most strenuously been against such things as eugenics. Their position is that the Kree have no right to hold us in custody merely for possessing a particular genome. Anyway, while the lady spoke with me about it, Star Lord and Grant were apparently talking about other things. Star Lord and his friends later rioted, and we were among the escapees. Star Lord had told Grant what model of ship we needed to steal, and how to do it. So we found ourselves heading to Shalmazz on some poor prison guard’s private spaceship. Star Lord knew the kind of ship we stole was smart enough to work with two people who have never even seen a starship before. We were expecting a lot more in the way of pursuit, but I could hear on the space radio or whatever you want to call it, that there was some major incident on some other planet, Sandor or something, and it drew away our pursuit. We made it to Shalmazz, and who should be there but Lady Sif! Apparently the negotiations had broken down, but were suspended while this Sandor incident was happening. Sif told me the hangup was Grant. His being an actual criminal, and having undergone terrigenesis was the sticking point. Well, after everything Grant and I went through to get this far, I wasn’t leaving without him. They had no more right to hold him than to hold me.” Jemma could see she was losing the room on this point. Bobbi vocalized what most of the rest of them were thinking, “It would have made things easier.” Jemma asked Bobbi, deadpan, “Easier on which planetary government? Earth’s? Whoops, even SHIELD operates under a multinational treaty. Nothing remotely like Shalmazz, Hell, or even, oh that’s right, Xandar, not Sandor. There is no united planetary government under which he is wanted, he lives under amnesty among the Inhumans, who are not, I might point out, signatories to the SHIELD treaty, and as long as he didn’t murder anybody, which he didn’t, all his crimes once the Snatcher had him are apparently considered products of his illegal detention, as are mine. He promised he would get me home, and I promised him the same. Sif was impressed enough with the argument to send us both back to Earth, armed, and you know the rest.” Everybody started turning back to their lasagna, except Fitz. “I didn’t know you were good at interplanetary law,” he said, beaming at her. Jemma blushed a bit, “What’s the good of being good at only one thing?” Coulson had one more question. "Did you ever get a real name for this Star Lord?" Jemma nodded and smiled. "His name is Peter Quill." May almost choked on her lasagne, as Coulson's jaw dropped. May quickly recovered, and smiled. "The cold-case follow up for Quill's kidnapping was Coulson's and my first mission after graduation." Coulson shrugged, "Guess we have some paperwork to do tonight..."


	9. Chapter 9

     Jemma, Bobbi, and Fitz were in the laboratory in the Playground, going over Jemma’s experiments, and the data Fitz and Morse had gathered in her absence. After a while, Bobbi got up the courage to ask, “So, did you undergo terrigenesis? Is there something you can do now?” Jemma smiled and shook her head. “I have enough to deal with right now. Between getting my research back on track and my own mental and physical recovery from my time….away, I simply don’t need anything else to worry about at this point. I mean, what if my Gift negatively affects my research, or my usage of safety gear? I will admit part of me is curious. But there are a lot of things I want to do first.” Fitz blurted out without thinking, “Think Grant’s going to do well on the exam today?” Jemma smiled broadly, “The man speaks six languages and excelled at the practice test. He’s more nervous about it than he should be.” Bobbi slammed a folder down, but got control over herself. Fitz and Simmons remembered that Bobbi was not Grant’s biggest fan. “I don’t understand, after everything that has happened, how the two of you could be his best friends?” Jemma decided blunt honesty was the best policy here. “Bobbi, you can’t spend the kind of time with someone I did and not find a way to get along. I wasn’t the happiest to see him when he first turned up at the prison…”

 

TEN MONTHS AGO:

     R’dallo was the worst. Even when another female was incarcerated, and gained the unwanted attentions of the other prisoners, R’dallo still liked using Jemma as his personal punching bag. Jemma had finally stopped crying when he did it, because she did not want her tears to ice over, or make her breathing mask too moist. She simply made herself small in a corner of the cell, and breathed until the pain became bearable. The guards opened the door, and shoved an un-cooperative new prisoner onto the ground before leaving. When the new guy picked himself off the floor, Jemma noticed he or she was wearing a mask identical to Jemma’s. As R’dallo went over to kick the new prisoner, the new guy rolled out of the way and onto his feet. R’dallo shoved the unidentified humanoid, who proceeded to stick up both hands with middle fingers raised, before both hands caught on fire. The predominating species in the prison tended to use a raised palm, followed by a slap to back of the raised palm by the other hand/paw/claw as their go-to obscene gesture, so the familiar Earthside gesture really got her attention. The two humanoids fought, R’dallo getting singed a bit by the fire the new guy wielded from his hands. Jemma peeked out from behind the partition, and for once paid attention to the usual dominance contest that ensued when a new prisoner showed up. Presently, the guards came in and tranqed everybody in the cell. One guard even found Jemma and got her.

     When she woke up, she was in another cell with the mystery humanoid. It was still unconscious, and Jemma could see its forehead. The word freshly tattooed on the forehead matched the tattoo on Jemma’s own forehead, one placed on her by the guards. Apparently the word meant, “Abomination.” Given the Earth one-fingered salute, and the matching tattoos, Jemma figured the other humanoid, shapeless under the insulated prison uniform, was another Inhuman from Earth. Presently, the mass moved and groaned. Jemma had made it an instinct to cringe in the corner. The unknown Inhuman pulled himself into a crawling position, noticed Jemma, then stood up, hands up in a “trust me” gesture. A muffled voice came from the mask on his face (Given the size of the Inhuman, male was a safe assumption). “Hello there. Thank you for not hurting me while I was out.” The voice was clearly in English, and clearly male. And somewhat familiar. “I don’t hurt people who aren’t trying to hurt me. My name is Grant.” Without thinking, Jemma launched herself from the wall and tackled Grant. He managed to dodge her fists, and before Jemma knew it, she was in a wrestling hold. “Miss, there is no need for that,” Grant tried in as reassuring a voice as he could give under the circumstances. Jemma spat back, “Fitz wasn’t trying to hurt you, you lying bastard!” Ward flipped her on her stomach, with her hands behind her. “Jemma! I found you! This is some good news!” Jemma sulked, “Just burn me like you did R’Dallo. This is not funny, and we are not friends.” Grant eased pressure on Jemma’s back, while still keeping her arms from moving. “Do you have a Gift too, now?” Jemma thought for a moment, but shook her head, honestly. “I’m not here to hurt you, Jemma. I’m here to get us both back to Earth. I will not burn you, I promise.”

     Jemma just laughed at him. “How are you supposed to get me home when you’re in prison with me, now?” Grant just shrugged at her. “I figure something might come up, I guess.” Jemma relaxed, and Grant guided her to the bunks, where she sat facing him. “Why did Coulson send you? I didn’t even know you were Inhuman. I didn’t even know I was Inhuman.” Grant shrugged again, “Coulson didn’t actually send me. I sort of sent myself.” Jemma gave him as much of a look as their breathing masks allowed. “The bloody rock was on the Iliad. How did you even get close without being killed?” Grant thought for a moment, and answered honestly, “I wasn’t supposed to be there. I was trailing someone there, and got noticed. I blundered into the hold while running from some people, and that’s when I saw it. I told Leo I would go after you, and the next thing I know, a bunch of blue guys are shouting at me, and here I am.” Ward would tell her later he was glad she didn’t ask him why he was trailing the other person. The last thing either of them wanted was to let any walls with ears hear that there was a large enough Inhuman community on Earth to require a police force, with whom Grant was training. “Jemma, you are right about me in one way. There’s an angle here. Skye and I, we, um, we are seeing each other. You are her best friend, and it is important to me that we find some kind of way that she doesn’t feel like she has to choose between us.” Jemma didn’t know what to believe, but she figured they were stuck here in space, and it would not matter what Skye thought or didn’t think about either of them. “You’re not popular, are you, Jemma?” Ward asked her. Jemma visibly bristled, “That is none of your concern.” Grant took in a deep breath, and said what was on his mind. “You were cringing the way my sister used to cringe when Mom had been drinking. Your parents are fine, upstanding folks. A bit ‘toff’ like mine, but from all my sources, are actually as good as they seem to be, unlike my parents. So I doubt you learned that reaction at home.  You weren’t a ‘cringer’ on the Bus either. And even when you were convinced I was going to kill you after you killed Bakshi, you didn’t back off like you just did.” Jemma glared at him, “Why do you care?” Ward fixed her with a look, “Because, like I said, I want us to get us both home and Skye’s relationship with me not to get between you and Skye. I can teach you to fight back. Break that orange jerkoff’s nose yourself, and you get to bathe and eat in peace. I will protect you, but I can’t be everywhere you go….”

 

     Bobbi was fascinated, as Jemma told her tale. “So, did he teach you how to fight?” Jemma smiled sadly and nodded, “Yes, and he was right. I went further than just breaking R’dallo’s nose. Grant had to pull me off him. But after I did, nobody messed with me. I even got the ‘abomination’ word tattooed on my knuckles, once they healed. And that is the one tattoo from my little trip into outer space that I decided to keep. If I’m going to be called an abomination, anybody who says it to my face deserves those knuckles across theirs, to be sure.” Bobbi laughed with delight, “Okay Jem, mark it on your calendar. I’m going to say something nice about that asshole. He’s an excellent teacher. And now we HAVE to spar once my physical therapist says I can.” Bobbi was trying to steer Jemma away from Fitz, but Jemma was clever enough to answer the question first. “And no, Bobbi, Ward and I never…you know. The whole idea was, we were going to get home somehow. As we kept getting Kree military coming through to look at us, followed by people we think were Asgardian, we realized our captivity had come to the attention of others. One Asgardian let slip something about the illegality of what they called genetic imprisonment, and we realized what was happening. As long as we were going to make it back to Earth, there were people who would be quite cross if we had slept together. Besides,” Jemma started to chuckle, and indicated Fitz had something to add, “Yes, um, Jemma also had one of the failing contraceptive implants. Jemma had not undergone terrigenesis, Ward’s terrigenesis has obviously not left him sterile, and Jemma came back with no signs of ever having been pregnant. Most importantly, neither of them knew Jemma’s implant was bad, so they would not have taken extra precautions. Jemma was not pregnant, because she and Ward were not sleeping together. He kept his promise to get her back. That….that was important to me. I’m not asking you to be his friend, Bobbi. Just understand what he did for us has to be added in to what he did to us.” Bobbi smiled, “So, tell me more about the prison….”


End file.
